Police account of how boy lost eyes draws skepticism

CHINA - Many people remain skeptical about police claims that the 6-year-old boy whose eyes were gouged out last month was the victim of his own aunt.

Police in Shanxi province identified Zhang Huiying, 41, the boy's now-deceased aunt, as the suspect on Tuesday, based on their investigation and DNA test results. Zhang committed suicide six days after the incident.

But others - including some of the boy's relatives and neighbors who knew the woman well - doubt she is responsible.

Zhang's neighbors called her "a good wife" who never quarreled with others and who was "timid".

Some neighbors said they wondered why the boy, whose name is Guo Bin, did not recognize his own aunt.

Linfen police disclosed the details of the case late Wednesday evening.

Han Zhihui, a criminal investigation expert from the Linfen public security bureau, said tests on a purple shirt with dozens of bloodstains found at the scene on Aug 30 showed that it contained DNA of both Guo and Zhang.

The bloodstains were unlikely to be from the boy's rescue because Zhang was not one of the 12 people who tried to give the boy emergency aid, police said.